Susan M. Nies

Publication Date

1992

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Degree Name

M.S. Ed. (Master of Education)

Legacy Department

Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling, and Special Education

LCSH

Writing--Automation; Learning disabled teenagers--Language

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the Macintosh computer, word processing, and the process writing program Writer’s Network on the compositions of four high-school students with learning disabilities. Without additional writing instruction beyond their regular English Lab curriculum, the students made improvements in their writing during the treatment phases in the objective area of spelling and the holistic area of conventions. No differences were noted between baseline and treatment phases in total number of words, number of run-on sentences, sentence fragments and in the holistic elements of focus, support/elaboration, organization and integration. The students had fewer vague words and more different words in baseline phases than in treatment. There was some improvement noted in the areas of capitalization, punctuation, usage and comma usage; however, the improvement continued through the second baseline and thus cannot be directly attributed to the editing program and computer intervention. Implications for writing instruction are discussed.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references (pages [51]-53)

Extent

viii, 94 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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